US Farmers

Mobile, farmers' markets more helpful than groceries in low-income neighborhoods, study finds

Mobile and farmers markets are among the cream of the crop when it comes to increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in low-income communities. Opening supermarkets, however, has not been shown to have much of an effect in that regard, according to new research from the University at Buffalo.

UB researchers reviewed literature of studies conducted on new mobile produce markets, farmers markets and grocery stores, and how each affected a key outcome: increasing produce consumption in under-resourced neighborhoods.

The results point to the need for expanding mobile and farmers markets to improve the diets of people who live in low-income communities, said lead author Kelseanna Hollis-Hansen, a doctoral candidate in community health and health behavior in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.

A special issue of the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine, which focused on food access among low-income populations, published the study last month.

“The review informs us that if the goal is to improve fruit and vegetable intake specifically, investing in smaller community-based retailers such as mobile produce markets and farmers markets is more effective,” Hollis-Hansen, who is also a graduate research assistant in the Department of Pediatrics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, said in a news release.

The finding that new grocery stores didn’t improve eating behaviors was particularly surprising to the research team. “In hindsight, it makes sense because there are thousands of items available in the grocery store that compete with fruit and vegetable purchases,” Hollis-Hansen said.

Researchers reviewed the literature looking at studies that examined the impact of new food retail operations on fruit and vegetable consumption in lower income communities. The initial review returned more than 1,400 studies, of which 15 met the selection criteria.

In addition to reviewing for produce intake, Hollis-Hansen and her colleagues also assessed factors such as access and availability, affordability, accommodative programming – such as accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) Electronic Benefit Transfers as a method of payment — and the quality and selection of fruits and vegetables available for purchase.

Mobile produce markets have the most positive effects on fruit and vegetable intake because that’s precisely their purpose: to make healthy food options more accessible and affordable to low-income communities.

Conversely, Hollis-Hansen said, grocery stores rarely make healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables more affordable to the customer. They also tend to stock more junk food and prepackaged processed foods that capture consumers’ attention.

Supermarkets should take more steps to better understand the needs of the shoppers who patronize the store, including having ongoing discussions with customers after the store has opened, to ensure that it’s providing the foods shoppers need in a way that’s easy for them to access, according to Hollis-Hansen.

“While we understand the need for a business to profit to be sustainable, we hope this study encourages larger retailers to think about investing in the health of the people who buy their products, in addition to their profit margin,” she said.

Research also indicates that incentives for mobile and farmers markets may do more to plant the seeds of a healthy diet in low-income areas.

“One reason why mobile and farmers markets may be more effective is that they do more than just sell fresh produce. They also try to address other things that make it harder for people to eat healthfully,” added Lucia Leone, senior author on the paper and an assistant professor of community health and health behavior at UB. These include cooking demonstrations, nutrition education, recipes and more

Chinese farmers in impoverished areas see robust income growth

Pmkisan

BEIJING -- China's rural residents in poverty-stricken areas saw robust disposable income growth in the first three quarters of the year, official data showed.

The per capita disposable income of these residents stood at 8,163 yuan (about $1,167), up 10.8 percent year on year during the period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The income increased 8 percent from the same period last year after deducting price factors. The growth rate was 1.6 percentage points higher than that of rural residents nationwide and 1.9 percentage points higher than the national average.

In breakdown, the per capita wage income expanded 12.2 percent year on year, with the growth rate up 2.8 percentage points from that of the overall rural area, the NBS said.

Wu Wei, a senior statistician with the NBS, attributed the steady growth of farmer's wage income to the increase of hired rural labors in central and western parts of China, together with the stable rise of wages.

Per capita net operating revenue in impoverished areas climbed 6.8 percent, expanding 1.3 percentage points faster than one year earlier, with the income from the tertiary industry registering a yearly growth of 11.2 percent.

Income from the agricultural sector rose 3.8 percent year on year, bucking the trend of a 3.9 percent drop from last year, thanks to expanded summer grain output and price rises of animal husbandry products.

The farmers' per capita income from the government climbed 15.3 percent year on year, which includes pension, social relief, agriculture subsidies and living allowance, etc.

In the past six years, China lifted 82.39 million rural poor out of poverty, with the rural poor population down from 98.99 million in 2012 to 16.6 million in 2018.

The country is aiming to lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty and eliminate poverty in all counties and regions by 2020.